Both are dry yeasts, and quite good.
The coopers yeasts are made in Austrailia, and are supposed to be a little more heat tolerant(according to their suggestion) I would go with it though. yeasts like bill suggested will only run you between $1.10 up to $2.50 at the most anywhere. It is better to be safe than sorry, so go with quality yeast, and make sure your wort is cool enough.

Man, liquid yeast is the way to go. I am a big fan of Whitelabs. The yeast comes in vials and for 'moderate strength' brews there is no starters or smack packs to fuss with. Just store the yeast in the fridge, let the yeast sit at room temperature temp to get it to 75 degrees F, then when you are ready to pitch just twist the cap and pour the vial in. Pretty easy. I have tried Wyeast, but I believe Whitelabs to be a superior product. I also believe that liquid yeast is better than dry yeast because as for as I know there are more yeast strains to choose from than with dry yeast. Also, the yeast cell count with dry yeast may be higher, but liquid yeast in general contains more viable yeast cells. Cheers

Yea, the foam is fine. Just make sure you drain all the liquid. If the foam is bothering you though, try inverting your carboy in a bucket to let the foam drain out--maybe a half hour while you do other things should get most of it out.

As far as the yeasts, they're both dry yeasts. When people are starting out I normally suggest using a quality dry yeast. That way if they run into problems, they didn't waste alot of money on liquid yeast. Dry yeast is simple to use and you can ensure a proper pitching rate thus allowing you to concentrate on the other aspects of your brewing until you get it down. Then you can decide if you want to use liquid yeast and deal with making starters.

In my opinion, if you do the following four things, you'll be well on your way to making good beers: (1) don't use straight tap water, filter it or buy it; (2) control fermentation temperatures; (3) use a quality yeast (liquid or dry); and (4) use fresh ingredients. The rest is process control.

Good luck, Joe, and keep plugging away. If your brother still wants you to quit, just buy him some Corona while you drink your soon-to-be nectar of the gods

I bought 2 kits about 3 weeks ago. One i used for the latest"shock beer"(as we like to call it) and I am waiting to finish my counterflow chiller to make the other one. Should I be concerned about the freshness of the other one? maybe I should make it today and just let the carboy sit on an ice bath to chill it. I dont want to let the ingredients go stale.